Bear Woman: The brand-new memoir from one of Sweden's bestselling authors

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Description

For readers of Rachel Cusk, Lisa Taddeo and the essays of Zadie Smith, Bear Woman is a beautifully wrought memoir from one of Sweden's bestselling authors, in which she examines motherhood and the female experience.

1542. A French noblewoman is left abandoned on a small island north of Nova Scotia. She has a crossbow, arquebuses and gunpowder. The island is populated only by wild beasts. She may be pregnant at this time.

Centuries later, whilst mothering her young children, a woman begins writing what she believes to be a television script about the life of Marguerite de la Rocque and her incredible story of survival against the odds. As she draws closer
to the nature of Marguerite, the woman begins to question her ability to tell this story, or that of any woman in history, and in so doing exposes a fundamental truth about what it is to be both a writer and mother.

Combining historical text, autofiction and essay with the uncertainty of memory, Bear Woman is the debut work of non-fiction by an awardwinning literary powerhouse.

Reviews

'The deeply personal journey of a writer, surprising and illuminating, and for me, familiar in the most reassuring way as she loses herself in this compelling story' * Esther Freud, author of Hideous Kinky *
Ramqvist, in Vogel's translation, is a master of finely observed detail and this book - with a slow-burn obsession at its heart - captivated me. Rarely have I found a book so gentle but enthralling in its telling, so able to distill the subtle turbulence of womanhood, motherhood, and the writer's life. * J E S S I C A J. L E E, author of Two Trees Make a Forest *
Ramqvist skillfully blends a story of survival with an autofictional meditation on womanhood ... It adds up to a careful study of a woman's writing life. * Publishers Weekly *
Karolina Ramqvist writes with frosty precision the kind of literature that is unforgettable. Her portraits of women hit deep into bone and marrow. * DORTHE NORS on The White City *

Author Bio

Karolina Ramqvist is one of the most influential writers and feminists of her generation in Sweden. She has written five novels and in 2015 she was awarded the prestigious P.O. Enquist Literary Prize for The White City.